City return to winning ways, beat West Ham 2-0

A BIZARRE own goal from West Ham’s James Collins helped Manchester City back to winning ways in the Barclays Premier League.

Top scorer Sergio Aguero was also on target as the fallen champions, after a horrendous run of six defeats in eight games, claimed a welcome and routine 2-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium.

Collins set them on their way when he contrived to lob goalkeeper Adrian when an attempted interception went wrong before Aguero added to the tally before half-time.

It was not enough to lift City back into the top three but at least increased the gap to fifth-placed Liverpool to seven points.

The result is also unlikely to alleviate the pressure on City manager Manuel Pellegrini much, but he could at least reflect on a satisfactory afternoon’s work against a lacklustre West Ham.

The only obvious sour point was a serious-looking injury to David Silva, who was carried off on a stretcher with a head injury after a clash with Cheikhou Kouyate.